Happy leap day! It is just a few weeks away from spring and a great time to think about planning your garden, whether it consumes a large swath of land or a few pots on a terrace. If you want to feel inspired by some online catalogs, check out the following options suggested by Sean Conway:
—Burpee
—John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds
—Johnny’s Selected Seeds
—Renee’s Garden
—Territorial Seed Company
—Underwood Gardens
Sean also suggests Organic Gardening‘s website. By searching “seed start” you can receive a useful how-to on seed starting.
On a related note, you may also be interested in a growing movement to save and incorporate heirloom seeds in personal gardens. Established in 1975 in a couple’s home, the Seed Savers Exchange has grown into a nonprofit organization with 13,000 members that sells thousands of varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers online and in garden centers all over the U.S. For more information about the inspiration for this network, along with why it is important to save heirloom varieties, click here for an in-depth Q&A with the founder. The most humorous answer was to the question about what was the most popular seed variety in the exchange. The answer – the “lazy housewife bean” – a stringless bean that is easy to prepare. Sounds like a great combination! It is also interesting to note that vegetables are much more popular than flowers.
Whether you create your own garden or not, fresh and local produce will be here in a few months. I am already looking forward to it.
SensitiveEconomist 